World's top 10 most powerful brands

New Delhi: For the first time in 13 years, Apple has overtaken Coca-Cola to become the world's most valuable brand, according to a report from Interbrand, a corporate identity and brand consulting company owned by

New Delhi: For the first time in 13 years, Apple has overtaken Coca-Cola to become the world's most valuable brand, according to a report from Interbrand, a corporate identity and brand consulting company owned by the Omnicom Group that has been compiling what it calls the Best Global Brands report since 2000. The previous No. 1 brand, Coca-Cola, has slipped to the third spot.

The report estimates the value of the Apple brand at $98.3 billion, up 28 per cent from the 2012 report. The Coca-Cola brand just grew by 2 per cent to $79.2 billion. On the other hand, the brand value of Google also grew 34 per cent.

The iPhone and iPad maker was praised by Interbrand for enabling "so many people to do so much so easily," earning the company "legions of adoring fans."

Technology firms dominated much of the top 10, with IBM fourth, Microsoft fifth, Samsung eighth and Intel ninth.

Experts say although Coca-Cola is an efficient and outstanding brand marketer, leading technology brands like Apple have also grown to become “very much the poster child of the marketing community.”

Samsung's ascent followed the company's adoption of a new brand strategy called the Brand Ideal, which includes “a greater focus on social purpose,” the company said in an email.

Talking about the departure of iOS chief Scott Forstall and a reshuffle of executives, Interbrand said, "There's been a lot of change at the top in the last 12 months, but the alignment of both hardware and software design under Jonathan Ive is a major step toward maintaining focus.”

"A shrewd move, perhaps, given the stiffer than ever competition over the last 12 months: Samsung is now the world's most profitable smartphone manufacturer, Google has expanded Android and its maps still seem to be the 'preferred' route, and Windows Phone 8 certainly raised more than a few eyebrows."

Of Google, Interbrand said "there's clearly something in the water in Mountain View, California," citing the search giant's development of self-driving cars and Google Glass, as well as the way it took advantage of Apple's fumbled launch of its own mobile maps application with iOS 6 in 2012.

"Whether through phone, tablet, computer, or car, the brand is ever-present. As powerful as it is ubiquitous, Google controls about one-third of all online advertising spending...at the same time, evolutionary changes in core offerings like search, Android and Gmail continue to keep Google ahead of the pack, ensuring that users who are 'one click away' from the competition never stray."

Among other transformative technology brands that did well was Facebook, which climbed to 52 from 69 last year, its first year on the list.

However, not all technology brands fared well in the list. Nokia, dropped to 19 from 14 in 2011, finished this year in 57th place — “the biggest faller” among the 100, the report mentioned. Also, BlackBerry, which tumbled last year to 93 from 56 in 2011, has disappeared from the list.